The Wednesday Report

Well it's Wednesday and that means only 8 more days to go. We got some could news today from my social worker. It looks like a lot of the things I need to have for home are starting to get sorted out. The medical store in P.G didn't have some of the things I needed, so now we are getting them from a dealer here in Vancouver. This does mean however that we'll have to purchase instead of rent a wheel chair. Fortunately It's all covered, so I'll have something to donate to the red cross when I'm done with it. The Plane home has also been figured out. It was a big relief to see that these things are coming together; on Monday it looked like a bit of a mess. Today I went for another good ride on the recumberant bike which is always fun. In physio over the las few days we have started working on balance by standing on a balance board and hitting a balloon back and forth. Yesterday I got talked into going down to the gym to play wheel chair basketball. It was a lot of fun, the chairs we used are very light and turn on a dime. My competitive edge kicked in allowing me to play for 30 minutes which is a lot longer then I have sat in a while. Afterwards I was very stiff and sore though, both from the sitting and from wheeling so much and just all the new movements that the sport involves. But it was definitely worth the pain to have some fun like that. The play different games every Tuesday so I'd like to go again, and I'm thinking of checking out the wheelchair basketball they have in P.G once I'm home. I'm going to post some rehab pictures my mom has taken on my facebook, so you can check those out if you want. Hope your all doing great.

Robert

Monday

Well They sure didn't let me settle into the week slowly. Today I had more appointments then I think I have had my whole time here. I have been meeting with a psychologist to work on pain management techniques. So far I haven't had to much luck with his methods, but who knows maybe something will come out of it. I also got to go for another ride on the recumberant bike. The increases in my drugs haven't seemed to have any effect of the pain I have while sitting, it has however over the last few days seem to have help with pain while standing/walking. On Friday and throughout the weekend I was able to be standing and walking longer then ever, managing to walk about 3 blocks. So now we are trying to figure out which of the two drugs they increased is the one that did the trick. On the weekend I also had several relatives stop by to visit so that helps make the time go by. The Grey cup was tough to watch as I felt sick when ever a team scored since I hate Calgary and Montreal so much. Some stuff that I would really appreciate prayer for is that everything that needs to be arranged for me to go home would happen, and that the right things that I need to have to live at home would be there when I get home. Well thats all for now,
Robert

Friday

Hello. Well another week is over and there's only 13 days till home time. There still hasn't been any changes in my pain. The doctors have continued to increase both my nerve and pain medications. It seems at times that I am able to walk for longer periods of time then I used to, but my ability to sit is still the same. I have also decided to pull myself out of the pool class since it causes me a lot of pain. The weekend is looking likes it's going to be pretty quiet. The grey cup is on but I find it hard to get excited about without the Eskimos in it. Thats about all thats been going on around here lately. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Robert

Tuesday

Two days into another week, with not too much new to report. The pain level when sitting or walking remains the same. One bright spot was that Robert took a short walk outside with his crutches and his physio, and that went without a glitch. It was a beautiful, late fallish kind of day so it was nice for him to get out for a breath of fresh air.
Things are beginning to happen in regards to getting things in place for Robert's coming home. Pray that all that falls into place easily, and on time .... modifications to our place, and getting all the necessary equipment and paraphenalia he is going to need for awhile. Other than that, prayer requests remain the same. Thanks for continuing in faithful prayer for all of us.

Chris

The Weekend Report

Hey, Hope everyone had a good weekend. I spent most of mine in bed, fortunately there was plenty of sports on T.V to keep me occupied on Saturday. My Eskimos were unable to win in the east, and moms Lions couldn't take the west. We were both kinda sulky until the Canucks were able to pull off a win and wash the bad taste out of our mouths. On Friday I continued to work with the forearm crutches and was getting smoother at walking like a regular person. Over the weekend I continued to practice and I was feeling quite confident at it. Unfortunately this morning when I was walking I place one crutch out to wide and when I put my weight on it I fell landing on my butt and back. Luckily for me I was unhurt, a bit surprised though and pretty ticked off with myself, but thats far better the. The nurses scraped me up off the floor and I decided to play it safe and stay in bed and use the wheel chair for trips to the washroom and get food. Tomorrow I will work with my physio again and hopefully get my confidence back and pay a bit more attention to where I put my crutches. Thats all the excitement that happened around here, besides me having a big come from behind win in cribbage moments ago. Well have a great week.

Robert

Thursday

Once again Robert was put through his paces with three hours of physio, including one hour in the pool. Today he got the knee brace which is to keep his left knee from buckling until his quad muscle is up to the task. With that on, he was able to attempt walking with crutches for the first time. That seemed to go quite well. The downside to this is the extreme pain that follows. As soon as this session was over it was back to his room as fast as his new lighter and sportier wheelchair would carry him, and into bed where he lay in agony until the pain gradually settled down to a bearable state. Sitting also continues to be unbearable, which is most disheartening. The doctor is going to be increasing the medication which deals with nerve pain, so hopefully that will make a difference. So far, no medication seems to be the answer. Keep praying that God will touch Robert in a miraculous way. Continue to pray for wisdom for the doctors and perhaps some fresh insight into Robert's situation. I have to say that the OT, PT, and his doctor are very caring and are doing everything they know to help and we are very grateful for all of their efforts.
That's about it for today. Continue to pray for Robert as he continues to courageously battle chronic pain and the discouragement that can go along with that.
Chris

Tuesday

Today was a pretty uneventful day. Robert felt better than yesterday, but still not quite back to "normal". He chose not to take any more of the same drug he'd had too much of until tomorrow, to allow the megadose he received yesterday to work its way out of his system. The doctor was in today and said there would be an investigation and reports written up, to find out how the mistake happened and to make sure it doesn't happen again. She said she had been livid when she found out about the error, but was relieved that there were no worse effects than what Robert went through. Anyways, Robert spent the good part of the day in bed, sleeping most of the afternoon. Tomorrow its back into routine which will be good for everyone's spirits around here.
Thanks for your prayers .... keep them going .

Chris

Back in Vancouver

This is Chris, in for Robert, to give you a quick update on life at GF. I got back here at about 8 this evening after checking in at my B&B where I can see I will be well taken care of.
I got to GF to find Robert had been given an overdose of methadone this morning. A nurse whom he never had before gave him ten times the prescribed dose ... got her decimal points mixed up, I guess. As a result, he was very groggy all day, had trouble focussing his eyes, had dry mouth .... not a good day. Tonight he had a very bad headache which the nurses say was not because of the drug, but who knows what to believe? Anyways, please pray that the effects of too much of this drug wears off quickly, and that he wake up with a clear head in the morning.
That's it for now.

Chris

Finally a New Post

Hey sorry for not posting for a few days, thought I'd wait till I had all my appointments and just put up all the information at once. Well on Wednesday I was able to go outside on a real recumberant bike. I went for about a 20 minute ride which was very enjoyable. Since I have to have supervision I have an appointment to go for another ride on Monday if the weather is nice. Yesterday I was woken up at 7 to be told there was an opening for an EMG test that I was scheduled to have next week. So I hopped out of bed and rushed down to the clinic in about 5 minutes. The test involves sticking a needle into a muscle and test to see if there is nerve signals going to it. There was both good and bad results, which do you want first? I'll go with the good. My weak left quad showed that it should continue to improve. However with my right foot (the one with foot drop) they were unable to get any nerve signals going to it which means that it recovering doesn't look to promising. They did say that it is still early and that it may recover, but it's not that probable. Today I went for to see my spinal doctor. I had x-rays taken again and after looking at them he was unable to find anything on them that would be causing me the pain. He said he wants to see me again before I go home and if the pain is still present I will have to get a cat scan to see if they can find the problem that way. So basically I will just continue on with what I'm doing. Well this weekend Amy is coming to visit me, so that will be fun, and then on Monday mom is back. And thats my news for the last few days.

Robert

Once Upon a Monday

Hello everyone. Well I survived the weekend. Most of it was spent laying in bed watching t.v. I had several visitors on Saturday so that made the day a lot nicer. I did manage to escape the hospital once when I went to Safeway to restock on strawberries. This morning I had a urology appointment bright and early where I learned that everything is all good. In physio today I got to ride on a recumberant bicycle. I was pretty excited to get to be on a bike again. I rode for about ten minutes and afterwards my legs were like jello. I definitely need to be doing some more cardio cause I was huffing and puffing pretty bad. Pedaling was also an odd feeling since certain leg muscles aren't doing as much work as they should. The surprising part was that I wasn't in pain sitting on the bike. So now the therapist are scratching the heads trying to figure out why I can't sit in a wheelchair on stand comfortably when I can sit on a bike. So yeah that was my exciting news of the day. Hopefully I'll be able to use the bike daily now so I can be in top shape for next summer. Well Thats all I have for today.

Robert